Improvement in overshoes



G. WATKINSON.

OVERSHOES.

Patented Sept. 18, 1877.

N. PEI'ERS, QHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHKNGTON D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

L. CANDEE & 00.,

OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN OVERSHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 196,316, dated September 18, 1877; application tiled May 18, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WATKINsoN, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Overshoes; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a longitudinal sectional view, illustrating the improvement, and in Fig. 2 a horizontal section on line :0 w.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of what are known as Arctic overshoes, in which a strap is employed to secure the shoe upon the foot.

In this class it is necessary that the sides be cut from the top down toward the bottom to enable the shoe to be drawn onto the foot.

In the usual construction it has been the practice to make the cut forward, as on the broken line a, Fig. 1, and thence back and upward, as indicated by the broken line b, the counters and straps coming forward from the line b to cover the opening made by this cut; hence, when the shoe is on the foot and the strap drawn over the instep, it is but a short distance from the edge of the strap into the edge at of the upper, and snow and water are liable to work in in contact with the boot.

The object of this invention is to overcome this serious difficulty in this otherwise-acceptable class of shoes; and it consists in forming a slit in the upper, or between the upper and the counter, substantially at the point where the strap commences, as more fully hereinafter described, and whereby I am enabled to out the lining in a single piece.

The shoe represented is of the usual form; but, instead of cutting a piece out of the upper, as indicated by the broken line a b, a single slit, d, is cut at substantially the junction of the front and counter, running down to the junction of the rubber and fabricated portions, the strap or extension A B extending forward from that point and overlapping the front. When the shoe is on the foot this slit is substantially closed, the extensive surfaces in contact between the front and the strap portions, occasioned by making the single slit, preventing all possibility of water working through to the slit, and thence into the shoe.

By this construction the lining of the shoe around the counter and the front is made of a single piece, the slit at extending down on the lining only so far as the cut is made in the upper, thus avoiding the offset which is found in previous construction, and the whole interior of the shoe has a smooth, neat, and finished appearance.

I claim- The herein-described improvement in Arctic overshoes, consisting of a lining made of one piece of material, and provided with the slits din the sides in rear of the strap portions, substantially as described.

G. WATKIN SON.

Witnesses:

J. H. SHUMWAY, CLARA BROUGHTON. 

